


like breathing

by zxanthe



Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-07 06:52:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16849222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zxanthe/pseuds/zxanthe
Summary: Robin, Raven, and the Bond they share.





	like breathing

**Author's Note:**

> originally published March 19, 2015 for Robrae week, day 5, prompt "Touch"

Between them, words are obsolete. Unnecessary. One glance, and her lips curve upward, ever so subtly. One touch, and he pauses, muscles quivering, blood singing with the desire to _beat the living crap out of this asshole,_ but instead of giving in he grounds himself in the steady warm pressure of the hand on his shoulder. So easy. So wonderful. No explanations necessary because they _know,_ know the rhythm of the other’s body, know the rhythm of their mind-

_their minds_

The bond was born of desperation and inspiration and maybe a little bit of madness too. She touched his brain, saturated it with herself and left no room for _Slade,_ that insidious snake who’d infected the strong and graceful palaces of his thoughts, the one who’d almost made them crumble. In return she’d gotten _Robin,_ and she’d seen him in all his sharp and brittle and fine-tuned glory and she’d marveled because oh, _he had such a lovely mind._ But he’d seen her too, saw the darkness yawning just beneath her skin, and for one brief moment she was absolutely terrified because what if he realized the exact nature of what she was and -

There was awe, and perhaps the faintest hint of _fear_ when he beheld her that day, but greater than those was something warm and far-reaching and it took her a moment to realize that it was _affection,_ and that it was only growing because she had just saved his life. He didn’t care about the dark because he could see something that even she couldn’t: something light.

It took her breath away.

Days, weeks, months later - time passed and Robin healed but a piece of her remained buried there in the murky dimness of his subconscious, even as he stayed within her. She became used to the soft thrumming of his life, there in her skull. Became reassured by it, even. Robin called it a Bond. She didn’t mind.

He paid her back later, of course, when her father came calling. Raven was never prone to explosive displays of affection. That’s why it meant all the more.

And they grew closer and closer. Learned each other. Grew so incredibly comfortable with one another that one glance was all it took. He could make her smile. She could keep him calm. So when he kisses her one night, on the roof of Titans Tower when the moon is bright and the ocean is calm, she lets him.

It’s nice: soft and gentle and not entirely unexpected.

(not a single light explodes)

For Raven, it’s exhilarating, because all her life she never dreamed she could have something like _this._

(the Bond makes it all the more sweeter)

(the others don’t notice a thing)

He touches her like she’s something fragile, something beautiful, and at first, it nearly breaks her heart.

(but later, it makes her smile, a genuine, crinkled-eyes-curved-lips smile. and much, much later, she’s able to tell him with complete and utter certainty: _I love you._ and he grins back and runs a hand through his hair and says, _I know._ )


End file.
